Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-33329977-20180704165632/@comment-6769189-20190104080648

And im going to be that guy to tell you that 20 years before DMC1 Dante's mother died and Vergil disappeared and Dante believed him dead until the DMC3 manga when they met again.

So no DMC1 is not 20 years after 3, its 9 years after 3. Trish was referring to the initial incident that caused Dante's family to fall apart.